The Breakfast Brigade
by Celestia0909
Summary: "She didn't know what it was about him, but she'd come to love spending time with him. It was odd how things changed and people grew." / James propositions Lily and she says yes.


**The Breakfast Brigade**

[A/N at the end]

 _* Huge thank you to 2D, AJ, Alixx, and CP for the beta's and helping me get this story to this stage*_

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Lily Evans' day began as usual.

She turned off her alarm at seven-thirty in the morning and quickly made her bed. By eight o'clock she was fully dressed, showered and had prepared her bag and books for her classes.

At eight-twenty she bounded down the stairs with her bag slung around her shoulder. James was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs, leaning casually against the banister. Upon hearing her footsteps, he turned towards her and Lily's hands had become clammy, which was odd. She never got clammy hands.

"Morning, Evans!" James' shirt was untucked, a little wrinkled, not fully buttoned, and there was no tie in sight. He looked like he'd just showered, face fresh, hair damp, and droplets of water trickling onto his shirt.

"I thought we agreed to ditch nicknames?" James looked sheepish but shrugged after a moment.

"Old habits die hard, Lil."

She rolled her eyes, walking past him towards the door. "True, but you could at least try."

Nobody in either of their friendship groups were morning people, which had led to this habit of walking to breakfast together since the end of sixth year. Just the two of them. They spoke about assignments, new Prefects, and home. Lily looked forward to it every morning.

"Listen, I had a thought," James exclaimed a little too loudly as they passed by a notoriously grumpy portrait of Lady Melisande. They had probably woken her up. Lily raised her eyebrows at him, remembering the last time he'd announced such a thing. James poked her shoulder a little too hard at the expression on her face. "I swear it's a good one this time!"

"Like your eloquent question regarding the creation of the first centaur?"

They climbed halfway up the stone stairs, skipping the trick step, and leaned on either side of the banisters as they waited for it to move. Lily loved the castle when it was still half asleep. The stairs moved more languidly before classes, portraits still slumbered, and the corridors were silent. It was the calm before the storm; also her favourite part of the day.

"I can't have been the first bloke to wonder about it. They're half-human and half-horse, you've got to ask how that came about..." _Boys_ , she'd thought. "And I can't read about it, before you open your gob and suggest that. I'm banned from the library."

"Do I even need to ask how?" She had learned quite quickly that James was banned from many areas in the castle.

"Remember when they had to 'renovate'," he created air-quotes with his fingers, "the library?"

"That was you?" Lily remembered. It had close to their OWLs and she'd been miffed to have to find another place to study. The library hadn't opened until a month after the exams were over.

"Indeed." He held onto the bannister as the stairs started moving again. A smug smirk revealing a barely noticeable dimple. "Sirius, Remus, and Peter, too."

"How you're Head Boy is beyond me," Lily sighed. The stairs stopped moving and shifted in place, leading straight to the entrance corridor. "What exactly did you do?" James shrugged, his smirk growing - and his dimple deepening - and pretending to zip his lips shut. "You know, if you spent half the amount of time on your schoolwork instead of Quidditch and pranks, you'd be top of the class."

"True, but then again," James jumped down the last few steps and he whirled around to face her; Lily's heart beat a little quicker as he smiled at her. _Weird_. "If I was top of the class, you'd have nothing to lord over my head; you self-righteous bird." James shook his head Lily's eyes strayed to his jet black hair. "Besides, caring about your grades is _so_ not groovy of you."

"So caring about your grades isn't 'cool'? You're an upstanding student, aren't you. A _real model citizen_." He smirked at her, again. _The cheek of this prat!_ She wanted to punch the obnoxious expression from his face. But this was the best part of their mornings - the easy banter. Despite everything they'd gone through, she couldn't deny that talking to James and joking around with him was easy and fun. They challenged one another, even if he did put his foot in his mouth sometimes.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "You don't know what you'd do without me, Evans." He was probably right.

"Nicknames? Seriously? Are you that thick, Potter?"

"According to Sirius there isn't much to protect."

He still had his arm around her shoulder as they entered the hall. She loved the smell of a Full English as it wafted into her nose. There were people dotted around the hall, but many watched the entrance. Lily blushed, but James noticed her embarrassment. He looked around the hall and shook his head. "Oi! Nothing to see here. Get back to it, yeah?"

Lily muttered her thanks to him. They took their seats, set their bags on the floor, and piled their plates with food.

"Want to hear my idea?" Lily glanced up at him, a mouthful of egg and toast preventing her from speaking, and gestured that he should continue. "We're friends, right?" Lily nodded hesitantly. "On a scale of one to ten, how bad do you think it would be if – "

"At least a twenty," she interrupted him unceremoniously.

" _I didn't even finish_!" His knife clattered to his plate, and everyone in the hall turned to look at them again. She glared at James.

"I don't need to let you finish to know that it's going to be mad."

By nature, James was not an angry person. In fact, she could only recall three times that he'd been genuinely mad. The first was with Avery and Mulciber after Mary McDonald had stumbled into Charms with welts over her arms and face. The second was with Sirius. She had never discovered the real reason, but they hadn't spoken for three weeks. She suspected it had something to do with Severus. The third was when Gryffindor lost the match against Slytherin last term. It had been a huge blow to his ego, captain of the team and obsessed with Quidditch as he was.

So, as James crossed his arms over his chest and furrowed his eyebrows, Lily instantly knew that he was feigning ire. The corner of his lips twitched. He was a terrible liar.

A hand waved in front of her eyes. "Will you go out with me?"

And just like that, Lily Evans was pulled from her thoughts. She stared at James as he laughed heartily. "What?"

"Your face was hilarious! You spaced out again." His eyes were glittering with mirth. Lily had found that she wanted him to be serious. She would've accepted had he been, actually. He hadn't asked her out since they began their morning routine, and she quite missed his flirtations. Besides, he _had_ gotten rather fit. "Anyway, would you quit getting distracted and just listen for a second…" He pleaded for her to listen properly.

"Alright, you insufferable prat."

x

At five o'clock, Lily trudged down to the broom shed with a heavy stomach and bones that felt like lead. She shouldn't have agreed to this, and she hated the power that James had over her these days. Being his friend had its pitfalls.

Yet, the air was crisp, and she did love the feeling of autumn breeze filling up her lungs. Orange, brown, and red coloured leaves had blown from the forest onto the strewn grass. A small stone lodge materialised as she crossed over the hill and the ground evened out beneath her. The stands around the pitch were oddly bereft of the bright house banners that occupied them during a match.

James spotted her as she drew nearer, two brooms propped up next to him under the arched entrance to the pitch. His hair was windswept and cheeks flushed. She figured that he'd gone for a quick fly around before she arrived. She noticed that his Quidditch robes fit him considerably better than his school uniform, then mentally slapped himself for thinking about what he looked like beneath the robes.

"Hey!" His glasses were slightly askew as he pocketed the golden snitch, beckoning her closer. "I was having doubts about whether you were going to show up."

"I promised that I would." James grunted in response, handing her the lighter coloured – and less magnificent looking – broom. His own had a polished mahogany handle with a golden ribbon wrapped tightly around it. "So how does this work then?" she asked.

"How much do you know about flying?" he asked, both of them walking to the middle of the pitch and Lily appreciated how quiet and empty it was. If she was going to embarrass herself, at least only James would bear witness to it.

Lily was not an athletically inclined person. She had little to no hand-eye coordination and always managed to injure herself. Her nerves increased by tenfold at the realisation that James was a talented Quidditch player and would probably be miffed if she couldn't walk away from the pitch without knowing how to fly properly. Yes, they had all taken flying classes in first year, but that was six years ago; theoretically, she _should_ be able to fly. Whether or not she _could_ was another matter entirely.

"I know enough that I won't die. So, teach me how to do this." He chuckled and shook his head. "And properly James."

"Always the drama queen." He winked at her and mounted his broom. "But I promise that if you die, I'll bury you with both your middle fingers facing up. A final 'fuck you' to me."

x

An hour later, Lily was hovering seventy-five feet above the grassy pitch and staring out at the castle, forest, and nearby village below. She couldn't believe it; she was flying! Feeling lightheaded, she glanced around, down at the grassy pitch, the stands, and James hovering close. She knew they'd die if they fell. No doubt about it. Nobody could survive a fifty foot fall.

"Beautiful isn't it," James hummed as he stared out at the grounds.

The sky glowed golden in the deepening sunset, Lily watching James, who gazed out at their surroundings. He looked completely comfortable while he sat on his broom with his hands resting on his thighs. She had never noticed how much he had grown. His face had become more angular, his nose was still a little too long and his chin was a bit too forward, but she liked it now. It made her feel better about her own flaws, seeing that he had some, too.

She didn't know what it was about him, but she'd come to love spending time with him. It was odd how things changed and people grew. In the hour that they had spent outside, he had found little ways of touching her or looking at her that made her feel like he wasn't totally over her yet, and that _she_ still had a chance with _him_. She suspected that he hadn't asked her out because he was scared to ruin their friendship. She understood the logic. But she had changed over the summer, too, and she was positive that the person she wanted was hovering in his broom next to her.

"Ja - " Her stomach grumbled loudly, and Lily winced as James chuckled at her, putting both his hands back on his broom.

"I guess that's our signal to get back to the castle then…"

Lily smiled and felt disappointed as they flew back to the ground and returned to the castle. All the while she wondered, _what would have I said to him if my stomach hadn't interrupted?_

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 **Author's Note**

Word Count: 1,981

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 **Written for the Houses Competition**

House: Ravenclaw

Category: Short

Prompt: [Speech] 'I know enough that I won't die. So, teach me how to do this.'

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I hope you all enjoyed this story x

Please don't forget to leave a short (or long) review.

I love love love reading them!

 _Until next time, Andy x_


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